Chris Navin

Not news, but worth restating:

‘For decades, the Pakistani military has backed insurgent groups whose express aim is to cross into India and fight. (The I.S.I. has also done this in Afghanistan, helping to create and sustain the Taliban.) The ostensible aim of these militant groups, and of the I.S.I., is to bleed India into ceding control over Kashmir. This has never been more than a fantasy, but it keeps the country of Pakistan focussed on something other than its intractable domestic problems, and it justifies the military’s bloated budgets.’

Then again, when we dealt with Pervez Musharraf, we had an ally in the ‘War On Terror’ who was playing us on both ends. It’s just the cost of doing business.

As previously posted:

Alvaro Vargas LLosa here.

Our author suggests:

“Pakistan’s original sin — the reason for its instability, its dysfunctional politics, and the penetration of its state and society by religious fanaticism — was the brutal influence of military rule in that republic’s short life. And it still is.”

Michael Totten post here.

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What’s life like in a slum in Karachi? Crime bosses provide basic social services and protection for residents and become populist figures, earning the love and fear of the people. The bosses then buy off the police. The corruption is deep, the makers of the film courageous, and perhaps a little nuts. The PPP doesn’t necessarily have control. Good film. Perhaps, what the Karachi government is to the Liyari slum, the Federal government is to the FATA region.

…From Michael Totten: ‘An Interview With Christopher Hitchens’…From Abu Muqawama: ‘Mubarak And Me’…From Michael Totten: ‘The New Egyptian Underground’…Michael Totten At The American Interest: “A Leaner, Meaner Brotherhood”